Upgrading For the First Time in 2 Years

[Tyerker]

So, starting off from sig rig.
Bought the following upgrades:

AMD FX-8320 CPU
Sandisk Ultra Plus 128GB SDD
Cooler Master HAF XB EVO Case
Seasonic SS-760XP2 PSU

Going to be getting a video card in a few months when I can justify it.

Getting back into performance computing and looking forward to OCing a whole new CPU.

 

[SMOKEU]

Sounds good. Let us know how you get on.

 

[Tyerker]

I'm finding my main performance issues are with heavily-modded Skyrim. Some of the city centers end up pretty laggy for me at times. Not sure if it's a graphics thing, or a data access thing. The FX-8320 looked like it went down a bit this week, plus the other components seem to be inexpensive, high-quality units. The Sandisk Ultra Plus is very well reviewed, and I've been wanting an SSD for a long time. Plus a fully modular 80+ Platinum PSU from a great company, and a new case that will be a little easier to deal with than my old Stacker 832.

I'll post build pics, and some before and after bechmarks. Skyrim FPS, HDTune, 3DMark, etc. Any other ideas for benchmarks that would show the advantages of the CPU and SSD upgrade?

 

[SMOKEU]

While I'm not familiar with Skyrim, if it's lagging then it's probably due to the CPU or GPU. Try running Fraps and then seeing what the in-game framerate is. It's unlikely to be the hard drive, unless it's heavily loaded up doing something else in the background.

3DMark is a well regarded benchmark, but be sure to take not of not just the total score, but also the individiual score for the CPU test as well. Heaven is another good benchmark, too.

 

[Tyerker]

So the first batch of shipments has come in.


Cooler Master Quickfire XT Keyboard with Cherry MX Blue
Razer Naga MOBA Mouse
LG Blu Ray Drive
AMD FX-8320
Corsair H60 All-in-One Water Cooler

Case and SSD are also here, but no pics yet.
Still waiting on the PSU to start the build process.

 

[Theocnoob]

Sorry but you really should not have purchased an H60. You can't overclock very high on one of those. Should've gone with the H100i.

 

[Tyerker]

I'm only looking for ~ 4.4GHz or so. I ran my FX-4100 on stock and got like 4.6GHz.

I know the 8-core is a different beast. but I'm not trying to break any records.